This invention relates to electrical connector assemblies and, more particularly, to an electrical connector assembly which functions to provide electrical interconnections between circuit boards, provide shielding for the connections, and provide support for circuit boards which are arrayed in a stacked parallel configuration.
In large electronic systems, such as computers and the like, it is common practice to provide a mother board, or backplane, to which a plurality of daughter boards are mounted and electrically interconnected. Traditionally, right angle connector assemblies have been utilized so that the daughter boards extend orthogonal to the mother board. U.S. Pat. No. 5,104,329 discloses an electrical connector assembly which provides for such orthogonal mounting and in addition provides shielding for the connections between the mother board and each daughter board. However, there are applications where the daughter boards and the mother board are to be supported in a stacked parallel configuration. An advantage of such a configuration is that a lower profile can be attained. Also, even though a plurality of daughter boards are connected orthogonally to a mother board, it may be desirable to interconnect the parallel daughter boards directly, rather than have such interconnections pass through the mother board.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide an electrical connector assembly which supports and electrically interconnects a plurality of circuit boards in a stacked parallel configuration.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an electrical connector assembly of the type described wherein continuous ground protection and shielding is provided between all of the boards in the stack.